Stephanie Arguello, a 38-year-old Longwood resident, is running for the Seminole County School Board District 3 seat. For three years, Arguello worked at the Orlando Science Center, where she taught children about health and wellness. She then worked with Advent Health for 11 years, where she visited schools in Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties, teaching students about health and wellness. She is the founder of Project Doula, a nonprofit consulting agency that provides help to mothers.
Her platform emphasizes a student-centric approach, the integration of technology in education and a reduced administrative burden. She has been endorsed by 3.14 Action, an organization dedicated to helping elect scientists, and Mental Health Now. View a full list of endorsements.
Arguello says that her main job is being a mom, with a daughter in 11th grade. As a single mother, Arguello is a parent, a teacher and a student herself, earning a bachelor’s degree from University of Central Florida in health science, a master’s degree from Florida International University in public health and is working toward her doctorate from Walden University in public health.
“What I want to bring to the table is an ability to work with people, from all different backgrounds, all different perspectives, and still fight to find a solution that is going to work best for our community,” Arguello told OCN. “This isn’t a time for politics; this is a time to refocus on doing everything we can for our kids and I want to be a part of that solution.” Learn more.
Over the course of her campaign Arguello has raised $24,133.50, and spent $21,700.89 across her campaign, according to Voter Focus.
OCN Q&A
OCN created a profile for each candidate and sent each candidate a list of questions that we created based on input from residents of Greater Oviedo and Winter Springs. Each candidate within a specific race got the same list of questions at the same time and had a 50-word limit per question. Answers were only edited for grammar and clarity.
Policy
Q: The state has drawn headlines in the past two years for making book bans easier in schools, including some considered classics of American literature. How do you feel about the way the state has managed this system, and what changes, if any, would you make?
A: The state created a vulnerability by allowing anyone to object to books due to their personal level of comfort. Rather than removing books for all, I will advocate for creating a process that allows parents to opt out of certain types of content for their student, without completely removing the content for others.
Q: A.I. technology has become a part of academic life, helping students become better writers but in some instances helping them to plagiarize or cheat. How would you propose we manage the threat and opportunity of A.I. in schools?
A: We as a district must work closely with our colleges and universities who are also navigating this very question. We must ensure alignment so that students are exposed to new technology, balanced with the much needed critical thinking and individual skills needed for success.
Transparency
Q: Parents want to know their school system is doing its best to educate their children in a safe and nurturing environment. Part of that is providing a clear view of the leadership and decision-making process at the district level. Right now, school board workshops, where a lot of important discussions happen, are not as accessible to the public as general school board meetings where many things are approved without discussion. The workshops are held during typical working hours, making it difficult to attend; There’s no way for people to dial into the meeting remotely; and the recordings of the meeting are not published. What would you do to enhance transparency and ensure parents feel they are both being heard and hearing from you?
A: As a parent working traditional hours, this has always been a struggle. I believe there is an opportunity for increased participation by alternating day and evening workshops, as well as proactively incorporating feedback via surveys and focus groups to incorporate more of the parent voice.
Taxes
Q: The Seminole County School Board recently approved a lower tax rate, which prompted praise from some residents, saying that not all residents have children in schools, and criticism from others, saying that they think the schools need additional funding for things like teacher pay increases. In order to raise taxes higher than the state’s rate ceiling, the school board would have to vote to put that measure on the ballot. Would you support placing such an item on the ballot? Please explain your answer.
A: I would be supportive of placing a measure on the ballot to increase taxes in support of additional school funding. While only a percentage of taxpayers have students in school, the school is an economic driver for the entire community, bringing in new families, as well as preparing our future workforce.
Q: Some residents worry that taxes might be used to fund unnecessary projects or expenses. What would you do to add public input and transparency to decisions by the School Board?
A: Transparency will be critical. The School Board should utilize existing public platforms to communicate plans, gather feedback from the broad community, and finalize a proposed budget based on the additional funding. Teacher and staff stabilization should be one of the priorities addressed with this funding.
Traffic and transportation
Q: The county said it’s in need of more bus drivers to transport students. What do you think the school board can do to help make sure this need is filled?
A: Strategic partnerships with local job placement organizations, along with job fairs at local colleges can also provide a pipeline to sustain this workforce. Work will need to be done with the existing team to ensure that existing bus drivers are retained and have pathways to continue growing within SCPS.
Q: What do you say to residents who argue that pedestrian safety is poor in Seminole County and that the local governments need more uniform signage and safer crosswalks, particularly near schools?
A: This will require continued partnership with local authorities, as well as an educational campaign to reach residents in communities surrounding school crosswalks to raise awareness of this being an opportunity for increased community responsibility of safety for all.
Growth
Q: Is development in the area outpacing the infrastructure, including water, housing, schools and roads? In 2022, the Oviedo Local Planning Agency board explored this issue and found that Seminole County’s method of measuring road capacity uses total daily traffic numbers instead of congestion during rush hours, leading to the sense that roads have capacity that motorists aren’t seeing.
What will you do to ensure schools don’t suffer this same problem of overstating capacity and causing class size issues, overburdened teachers and overwhelmed students?
A: With changes to school start times, we should review the methodology used to assess school capacity. Uneven distribution of students leads to more congestion, and a lesser quality education for students in overcrowded schools and classes.
Q: Because we live in a growing area, what will you do to minimize the issue of children being bused farther distances because their nearby school is at capacity? How can the school board make it easier to keep students in their neighborhood schools?
A: As growth happens, we must closely monitor capacity for both school choice, and students going to their assigned school. This can be monitored with annual surveying to understand what percentage of students choose a different school due to program of choice, versus lack of capacity.
Teacher pay
Q: While new teacher salaries were recently raised, some residents raised concerns about veteran teacher pay, citing that teachers do not get a raise until they’ve been with the district for more than 20 years. Do you think more pay incentives are needed to retain teachers in Seminole County? If elected, what would you implement in order to retain teachers once they’re hired?
A: Pay incentives are necessary for experienced teachers, along with review of the overall employment package to ensure SCPS remains competitive. If elected, I would advocate for improvements to the benefits package, as well as continued work to find a balance between attracting talent and retaining talent in Seminole County.